Kibbles 'n' Bits 'n' Gravy Bits

In brief:

MEMORIES OF GREEN

Last night I received my copy of Gail Laughton's album Harps of the Ancient Temples, which was the last piece of the puzzle for my custom edit of Blade Runner, which is now complete. I didn't try to squeeze the entire score, but rather took my queues from how Vangelis assembles his albums and combined from various sources both music from the film and music that was recorded for the albums. I often mimicked or doubled some of Vangelis' own overdubs and transitions. This assembly is followed by "One More Kiss, Dear," which I did not integrate into the body of the score. I didn't want it to be too long a program in light of how melancholy many of these tracks are, so the whole thing runs just a little over an hour. There will be a more detailed entry describing what choices I made and why in the near future.

COUNTY LINES

It's nice to be back at work in Manhattan as usual instead of working in Queens, but unfortunately there is very little work going on here. While I do have to scrounge a little for a job, I also made it clear in the office that I'm not interested in becoming the Queens plant guy. I wouldn't necessarily mind doing the occasional week in that garage, but the work is so tedious and boring that I want to ensure that nobody thinks of me as the "go-to" guy for helping out in Queens.

THE REMASTERING OF KHAN

I had always been disappointed with the sonics on GNP Crescendo's issue of James Horner's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan score. A recent thread on the Film Score Monthly message board alerted me that the three tracks from that score that appear on Star Trek: The Astral Symphony are different mixes of those cues. I pulled my copy of The Astral Symphony off the shelf (which I picked up before the GNP releases and I hadn't listened to since 1992) and did an A/B comparison of "Enterprise Clears Moorings," "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" and "Genesis Countdown" and I was shocked at how much better those cues sound on the compilation. I replaced those tracks on the Star Trek II album on my iPod.

This would normally induce me to crack open my Silver Screen Star Trek compilation as all three of those tracks appear on that disc. However, now that the tightly sealed Paramount vaults have been cracked and Michael Giacchino's Star Trek score shot to the number one position on iTunes, there is a very large possibility that we might see expanded remasters of the Trek feature film scores in the near future. Nevertheless, others dissatisfied with the sound of Star Trek II would do well to seek out The Astral Symphony for three of the most exciting cues from the album in good sound.

FOR PUNCTUALITY OR MONEY

I have been saving quite a bit of money by finding very good online deals on new Blu-ray releases. The downside to this is that I don't necessarily get titles day and date anymore, which can be annoying if you're expecting something on a certain day. Now, it's not like I'm getting my stuff a week late or anything, but ever since the mid-90s, when I worked at Tower Records, I'd been a day and date kind of guy, so this is an adjustment. On the other hand, the disadvantages pale in comparison to loads of dough I'm saving doing this. I'll just have to get used to it.